In this activity, students examine the effects of hurricanes on sea surface temperature using NASA data. They examine authentic sea surface temperature data to explore how hurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean surface.

Activity takes about one to two 50-minute class periods, depending on how much background material instructors decide to provide.

Teaching Tips

Potentially, user could examine other hurricanes during that time frame to see if there are similar effects.

Educator should go through this entire exercise before introducing it to their students, as a good knowledge of the material and familiarity with the LAS (Live Action Server) will be helpful when questions arise.

Although NASA categorizes this lesson as being appropriate for grades 6-12, it would need substantial scaffolding in order to be understood in a middle school class and is most appropriate for high school students.

About the Science

The passage of a hurricane causes a large transfer of heat between the ocean surface and the atmosphere. It also causes surface waters to diverge, bringing cooler water from deeper ocean to the surface (upwelling). These effects are so large that they can be seen by a drop in sea surface temperature (SST) in satellite data observations along the path of the storm.

This resource does an effective job at showing students how scientists use observations to better understand the climate system and how hurricanes can affect sea surface temperatures.

Comments from expert scientist: Students deal with real data and real scenarios. They gain practice with different kinds of representations of oceanographic data (sea surface temperature). The lesson does not address the second half of its stated purpose: “to explore how hurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean surface”. There is no information about “how”. Needs information about relevant processes.

About the Pedagogy

Students are able to look at real NASA data and create graphs to better understand hurricanes and their influence on SST.

Unfortunately, the teaching notes provided are not very helpful. Educators will need to independently figure out how to effectively teach this lesson, particularly because no answer key is provided.

Technical Details/Ease of Use

Paperless version, or online pdf version, of the lesson is available. Educator may want to use a combination of the two versions to complement teaching style.

Next Generation Science Standards
See how this
Activity supports:

Middle School

Performance Expectations: 1

MS-ESS3-2: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 4

MS-ESS2.C1:Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.

MS-ESS2.C2:The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.

MS-ESS2.D3:The ocean exerts a major influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents.

MS-ESS3.B1:Mapping the history of natural hazards in a region, combined with an understanding of related geologic forces can help forecast the locations and likelihoods of future events.

MS-P4.3: Distinguish between causal and correlational relationships in data.

MS-P5.1: Use digital tools (e.g., computers) to analyze very large data sets for patterns and trends.

MS-P6.1:Construct an explanation that includes qualitative or quantitative relationships between variables that predict(s) and/or describe(s) phenomena.

MS-P6.3:Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

MS-P6.4:Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence to construct, revise and/or use an explanation for real- world phenomena, examples, or events.

High School

Performance Expectations: 1

HS-ESS2-2: Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 2

HS-ESS2.A1:Earth’s systems, being dynamic and interacting, cause feedback effects that can increase or decrease the original changes.

HS-ESS2.C1:The abundance of liquid water on Earth’s surface and its unique combination of physical and chemical properties are central to the planet’s dynamics. These properties include water’s exceptional capacity to absorb, store, and release large amounts of energy, transmit sunlight, expand upon freezing, dissolve and transport materials, and lower the viscosities and melting points of rocks.

HS-P6.2:Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.